


It's A Match

by lockmyheart



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Coming Out, Flirting, M/M, Tinder, alternative universe, dating apps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 23:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3358670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockmyheart/pseuds/lockmyheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mandy forces Mickey to get a dating app and he accidentally swipes right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's A Match

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Shamelessforum's Valentine's Day challenge. It's still Valentine's Day somewhere right??  
> All the pictures mentioned in this fic are actual pictures of Noel and Cam that exist out there on the world wide web. If you're on your phone or something, or for other reasons can't see Ian's Tinder profile that I've included in the fic, you can click [here](http://i.imgur.com/LOJ84Kt.png).  
> I used this card  
> [](http://imgur.com/AjhEHHZ)

You need to get out there, she said. You should get a date, she said. I know, I’m gonna make you a Tinder profile! she said.

Seriously, fuck Mandy.

Mickey could do nothing to stop her so here he was, sitting in his living room staring down at this new app on his phone that was supposed to get him laid. The problem was, his sister still thought he was straight, so every person he scrolled through was a chick.

As if he needed help getting laid anyway. As if he needed help getting laid from a _dating app_. Or, as Mandy called it, a 'hooking app’.  She had advised him to not be creepy, but to talk normally to the girls first and not ask them if they wanted ‘the d’ right off the bat. Because apparently, that sort of thing will most likely get you ignored.

As if Mickey gave a shit if girls ignored him or not, but he’d pretended to listen to Mandy’s advice.

Now alone in his apartment, Mickey scrolled through a couple of the profiles, just out of curiosity. He didn’t swipe right on any of them, god knows Mandy had already forced him to swipe right on enough of them when she was still here.

Oh, she’s cute, Mickey! Match.

Wow, those tits, match her.

Match that one too, you’d make nice-ish babies.

How about this one? She’s got tattoos.

Mickey had humored her, swiping right on every girl Mandy suggested, just to avoid suspicion. To be honest he was nearing a point in time where he no longer cared if Mandy knew he was gay, but he hadn’t yet found the right way to let her know. Maybe this would have been the right way, but she had gone home now, and every time Mickey thought about telling her his throat would close up and he would be hit with the irrational fear of ‘what if she finds it completely disgusting?’ He couldn’t lose her, so better safe than sorry.

He watched as the app’s screen changed to alert him that he had a match with some chick named Amber. That would make her the fifth girl to deem him attractive enough to go through. None of them had spoken to him yet though, wasn’t that typical chicks? Just hanging around waiting for the dudes to take the first step. Well, Mickey wasn’t about to take any steps, so too bad for them.

Mickey went into the ‘settings’ part of his profile, staring down at the choice he had on what the app showed him. Women. Men. Men and women.

He glanced around in his apartment, it felt like someone (his father?) was there, watching him consider this. His thumb toyed with the options, flicking through them, heart beating just a little bit faster whenever it crossed ‘men’. If he did pick ‘men’, it would out him to every other gay man in the area who also owned the app. The thought was nothing short of terrifying.

But also sort of thrilling? The closet had started to feel quite cramped lately and he had started catching himself staring longingly at attractive men on the street.

Before he could change his mind, Mickey quickly selected ‘men’ and hurried out of the settings, his heart beating hard against his throat. Shit. He stared down at his phone as if it would blow up any second now with guys hitting on him. That wouldn’t happen unless he matched with someone though. Right. Chill, Mickey.

It did feel like a first step though. Acceptance, maybe.

He hesitated before he opened the catalogue of people again and this time the search for a person in the area took a bit longer than when the app thought he was looking for girls. Finally the screen showed him a picture, some nineteen-year-old named Jason, posing ridiculously in front of the mirror, pursing his lips and furrowing his brows, and obviously straining to tighten his abs.

Jesus Christ.

Mickey swiped left, shuddering.

The next one was Abdul 24, a guy with way too much hair gel and a diamond in his right ear. Decent enough looking, but there was no way in hell Mickey was going to ‘match’ any of these guys. He just wanted to look. Tour the area, if you will. He was kind of curious how many gay guys lived around here.

Mickey swiped past Chris, Jerry, another Chris, Carlos, William, Dennis – wait, Dennis! Dennis was hot as fuck but Mickey had automatically swiped left and now he was gone, god damn it. He had wanted to check his other pictures out, maybe he had a picture of a well-defined v-cut, which never failed to make Mickey want to shove a hand down his pants.  

Maybe he could just swipe back to him. Mickey tried that, but what happened instead was that a green ‘Liked’ popped up over the dude who came after Dennis’s profile picture, and Mickey was left staring at some new dude named Jack.

Mickey groaned at his own stupidity. Great. He didn’t even know who it was he had ‘liked’, but most likely it wouldn’t matter, it’s not like the guy would ever figure it out unless –

_It’s a match! You and Ian have liked each other._

The two small circles showing his and this guy Ian’s profile picture showed his own stupid-ass photo next to some dude, Ian, holding his hand up towards the camera.

Mickey groaned again, completely horrified. This wasn’t mean to happen, he was just sightseeing!

He went to try and figure out how to delete a fucking match when his phone buzzed and Jesus Christ, this dude was fast. It hadn’t even been two seconds.

Mickey opened the message hesitatingly.

 **Ian:** Hey

Okay, so that would hardly count as a come-on anywhere else, but this was a dating app after all, so it pretty much was. He tapped his nails against the back of his phone, chewing on his bottom lip. There was something so foreign about being this open. There was an actual guy somewhere in the area that knew he was into dudes and wanted to have a conversation with him. The only other time Mickey had ever revealed himself was when he was sixteen and banged this dude from school and after that threatened to beat him up if he told anyone. Needless to say the guy didn’t come back for seconds and Mickey had told himself he had quenched the thirst for dick.

Alas. He kept fucking girls until he was twenty, after that he’d been pretty much celibate, sick of fucking girls but still too much of a pussy to go after what he wanted. Fucking stalemate.

Mickey told himself to calm the fuck down as he went to check out this Ian dude’s profile.

 

Less than a mile away, fucking hell. Mickey glanced towards the window as if he would see Ian perched on his windowsill. He looked back down at the photo, gnawing his lip raw. He wasn’t bad looking, he supposed. Sharp jawline, narrow waist, kind of reddish brown hair? Mickey had a strange weakness for red hair. Freckles, too. He swiped to the next one, finding a grainy picture of Ian sniffing a cat. Okay. Definitely looked a bit more like a redhead in that one though, which Mickey wasn’t going to complain about. The next one was a black and white one of him making a ridiculous face, the fourth another grainy shot of him trying to look badass. The fifth picture made Mickey pause and grin. Ian was clearly younger in it, most definitely, and was standing in front of the mirror shirtless, doing a similar pose as Justin. The difference was that Ian was grinning widely as he did it, obviously not trying to look smooth and sexy.

Now Mickey understood why Mandy had been so insistent that he had to have at least _one_ picture where he’s smiling. It was charming. Inviting.

Though Ian’s smile wasn’t what Mickey was focusing on the most here. While obviously flexing pretty damn hard, Ian had a nice body on him. Or used to. There had to be a reason why you would use a picture that was obviously several years old. Maybe Ian had taken a liking to fast food.

The “looking for something more than just one night” in his profile was kind of bright warning lamp, but Mickey was tempted to reply to him. Just out of curiosity. To see what Ian would say.

 **Mickey:** Hey

He waited, only releasing his lip from between his teeth when he tasted blood. The reply came a minute later.

 **Ian:** What’s up?

 **Ian:** Are those real tattoos?

Mickey’s first profile picture was a ridiculous one of him shoving his knuckles into the camera, grinning behind a pair of stupid sunglasses. Mandy had taken the picture and promised not to show anyone else but of course she had forced him to put it on facebook because “you have to show people you know how to smile and look cute, Mickey”. What the fuck ever.

But it had made a hot guy swipe yes on him though. So there’s that.

He had one more picture on the app. A more accurate one, as Mickey had told Mandy. That was what he actually looked like, arms crossed tightly and frowning. Mandy had only agreed to letting him use it on Tinder because “fine, some women are into that whole dark and broody type”.

Some women and some guys, apparently.

 **Mickey:** Not much.

 **Mickey:** Yea

 **Ian:** Cool :)

Mickey wondered what he was supposed to say now. Was he supposed to ask Ian some kind of question like they were already on a date? Was he supposed to ask what he did in his spare time? Fuck that.

 **Mickey:** How old is ur last photo? U look 12

 **Ian:** Haha I was 18 actually and I don’t make a habit of taking pics like that so it’s the only one I had

Mickey found himself smiling down at his phone, amused that Ian found it absolutely necessary to include a picture of himself half-naked. Mickey supposed he couldn’t blame him, looking like that.

 **Mickey:** So u still got that body?

 **Ian** : Mhm. It’s better now actually ;)

Just like that, they had entered flirting territory. Mickey bit the inside of his cheek instead of his lip and hesitated. Should he stop this now or continue?

Stop. He should definitely stop.

But instead of closing the app, he found himself writing a reply to Ian.

He was so weak.

 **Mickey** : Prove it

 **Ian:** Do you have snapchat?

Mickey’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. He had expected Ian to turn him down, not to invite him over to yet another app.

 **Mickey:** No

 **Ian:** That’s too bad

 **Ian:** For you ;)

They were both silent for a while. Mickey thumbed through Ian’s pictures again, his knees bouncing restlessly.

A small orange dot in the corner alerted him that Ian had sent him another message.

 **Ian:** I can’t stop looking at your pictures, you’re so cute

Cute. _Cute_. No one had ever dared to call Mickey cute to his face (except for Mandy) and he was sure Ian wouldn’t either if he had met him. Mickey wasn’t cute, the photos were all lies. Fucking Mandy.

What was he supposed to say to that? Thanks? No.

 **Mickey:** If u were here I’d punch u for that

 **Ian:** Tough guy huh?

 **Ian:** What do you do?

Mickey fell onto his back with an exasperated sigh.

 **Mickey** : Construction. It’s shit but pays the bills

 **Ian:** That’s how it is around here. I bartend. If you come by The Fairytale I’d let you have a few drinks on me

The Fairytale. This was getting gayer and gayer by the minute.

 **Mickey** : Is that so?

 **Ian** : Yup. Gotta go now though, my sister’s coming over to watch a movie. Ttyl?

 **Mickey** : Ttyl?

 **Ian** : Talk to you later. You’re adorable :D

 **Mickey** : Ugh. Sure

 **Ian** : :D

“Jesus Christ.” Mickey let his phone fall down onto his chest and rubbed his eyes with his palms.

He was actually kind of disappointed Ian had to go.

* * *

They talked more later that night. Actually, they ended up messaging back and forth until three in the goddamn morning. It was ridiculous and high school level and Mickey enjoyed it more than he probably should.

At three, Ian had signed off with an emoji that seemed to be blowing a heart.

It had made Mickey smile.

Jesus Christ.

* * *

After a week of Ian bullying him over Tinder, Mickey caved and downloaded Snapchat. Ian had promised that the first picture he would send him would be a shirtless pic, so Mickey deemed it worthy enough.

And who knows, perhaps Ian would decide to upgrade to a couple dick pics.

The first picture was, indeed, a picture of Ian from the neck down to his very low-riding boxers. Mickey found himself swallowing hard, eyes trailing hungrily over the defined abs and that ever so sexy v-cut. He had definitely improved since he was eighteen, no doubt about that. Mickey mourned the loss of the picture when the timer ended and it disappeared.

He sent him a picture back. Not of his face, nor of his chest, but of his hand showing thumbs up.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Ian and Mickey alternated between Tinder messages and silly snaps. Ian would send him selfies when he was bored at work, making all kinds of faces, and Mickey, who had finally mastered the art of screenshotting, saved nearly all of them.

Ian was still Mickey’s only Tinder match. He had deleted all the girls from previously and he hadn’t even bothered to go through more guys. Every time he saw Mandy she asked him about it and he pretended to be chatting with a few girls. No dates yet, he told her, but she seemed happy knowing he was at least using it.

She found out about Ian six weeks after they had started talking.  

Mickey came out of the bathroom to find Mandy staring down at his phone.

“What the fuck?” He charged towards her and tore it out of her grip. “Fucking privacy, bitch? What were you –“ He looked at the screen, realizing that his nosy bitch of a sister had been going through his photos. His entire photo album was basically an Ian shrine, with the occasional shot of the sky or random dogs he thought looked badass. The picture Mandy had been looking at when Mickey caught her was a screenshot of a snap of Ian lying in bed, a tired smile on his face, hair adorably disheveled. The caption read “Morning Mick”. That, paired with all the other million pictures of Ian on his phone, including a couple more shirtless ones, would not look platonic to anyone with half a brain.

Mickey’s heart sped up and he glanced at Mandy, unable to completely mask his fear.

Mandy didn’t look disgusted. Instead, she looked pretty damn angry. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line and she was staring at Mickey with what almost looked like betrayal.  Mickey could just see her putting two and two together, finally realizing why Mickey had never had any girlfriends, why he always avoided the topic like it was poison. “And when were you planning on introducing me to you _boyfriend_?” She spat out the word ‘boyfriend’ and Mickey couldn’t stop himself from flinching.

Him and Ian hadn’t talked about it, hadn’t defined anything, but if Ian were to ask him out Mickey didn’t think he would say no.

No, he definitely wouldn’t say no.

Actually, he was kind of waiting for Ian to just fucking ask already.

“Um.” Mickey glanced towards the door, looking for a way out of this. This wasn’t how he’d planned on coming out to his sister. He wasn’t prepared for this. “It’s not – He –“

Mandy leaned back on the couch, her arms and legs both tightly crossed. “He’s cute,” she said, her lips pursed. She was clearly waiting for him to explain himself, but Mickey could only stare at the floor, his brain slowly frying. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Mandy leaned forwards and pulled at his sleeve, pulling him down to sit next to her. “Just fucking breathe and then talk to me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Mickey realized then that Mandy was hurt. She felt he’d been lying to her, and yeah, he guessed he had. He looked up at her and forced himself to talk. “Wanted to,” he murmured, glancing away again, busying himself with his phone. He looked down at the picture of a sleepy Ian and smiled a little. “Couldn’t figure out how.”

“Who is he?” Mandy’s voice was softer now and Mickey could feel her eyes on him, looking at him looking at Ian. It felt oddly intrusive and he exited the photo album.

“Ian. We, uh…” He cleared his throat, a bit embarrassed of what he had to admit next. “We met on that stupid app you made me get.”

Mandy gasped audibly. “Seriously? Jesus, Mickey, you could have just fucking told me. I wouldn’t have made you add all those girls if I’d known. Hell, I probably would’ve made you get Grindr instead.”

“What the fuck is – never mind, I don’t care.”

“Have you met yet?”

He shook his head. “Don’t know if he wants to.”

Mandy let out a snort. “Wants to? The guy’s sending you fucking ‘good morning’ snaps, of course he wants to. Ask him.”

“I dunno, Mands.”

“Oh, for the love of… Give it here.” Mandy held out her hand and when Mickey didn’t comply she simply took his phone from him, and to Mickey’s absolute horror she opened the Tinder app.

“What are you doing? Don’t –“

Mandy went to look at his conversations. “He’s your only match, this is seriously so fuckin’ adorable.” She opened their conversation, rolling her eyes at the last messages, which was a ‘sweet dreams x’ from Ian and a ‘u too’ from Mickey. She glanced at him through narrowed eyes. “Don’t think I’m not still mad at you for not trusting me though. I am, in fact, very mad.”

“Sure.” Mickey couldn’t really focus on that right now, not when she was poised with her thumb above the display. “What are you doing, don’t write anything.” He didn’t take it from her though, too curious to see what she would do.

Mandy had typed out ‘Wanna meet?’ and pressed send before Mickey could even register it. How did you even type that fast?

Mickey groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, kicking Mandy hard in the shin but all he got in return was a giggle. He was going to murder her in her sleep if Ian turned him down now. That would be so fucking humiliating. And it would sting like a bitch.

They both waited in silence for ten whole minutes.

“He usually answers pretty quickly,” Mickey mumbled, already beginning to feel the rejection. “I hate you so fucking much right now.”

“Ssh, give him some time,” Mandy said, waving her hand in his general direction. “The guy’s smitten, he’s gonna say yes. He’s probably just freaking out about what to reply.”

“If you say so.”

Another ten minutes ticked past until Mickey’s phone finally buzzed on the couch between them. Mandy grabbed it before Mickey could. He leaned against her side as she opened up the message.

 **Ian:** Sure. When and where?

Mickey’s stomach did a strange swoop and Mandy punched the air with her fist. “Told ya! That’s a classic ‘I’m freaking the fuck out but I’m going to act like it’s not a big deal’ answer. So? When and where?” She paused and snapped her fingers in front of Mickey’s face. “Earth to Mickey, when and where?”

Mickey blinked. “Um.” He didn’t know where people who had never seen each other in real life met. “A bar? Gonna need alcohol.”

Mandy snorted but turned back to the phone, tapping out a reply, suggesting a bar Mickey recognized as not too far from where he lived.

 **Ian** : I’m free tonight

Mandy turned towards Mickey with a wide, triumphant grin. “Eh? See, little sister fixes everything.”

“Tonight?” Mickey began chewing on the skin by his thumbnail but Mandy knocked his hand away. “I dunno. Fuckin’ short notice.”

“Aww, nervous?”

Mickey bristled. “Fuck no. Fine, tonight. Write it.”

 **Mickey** : See you there then

 **Mickey** : x

“I don’t do those!” Mickey protested, mortified. “He’s gonna know it’s not me now.”

 **Ian** : x

“… Or not.”

* * *

Meeting Ian was simultaneously the most amazing and most nerve-wracking thing that had ever happened to Mickey.

They were sitting opposite each other in a booth in the corner of the bar, gazing at each other over their glasses of beer.

Ian was even better looking in real life than on pictures, if that was possible. Mickey wondered what Ian thought of him and self-consciously shifted in his seat.

Ian had given Mickey a hug when he had arrived, but both had made sure not to linger as long as they actually wanted because this wasn’t _that_ sort of bar. It had been the best hug in Mickey’s entire existence though. Not that he had much to compare it with, he wasn’t really that much of a hugger.

“So what made you ask me to meet you today?” Ian wondered and Mickey still wasn’t used to the sound of his voice, even though they had small-talked for half an hour now. It was a nice voice. Deep. Not what he had imagined but somehow better.

“Honestly?” Mickey laughed a little, pleased to see that it made Ian grin back at him. Maybe Mandy had been right when she said Ian was smitten. “That was my sister. Apparently six weeks of talking without meeting is against the law.”

“But you didn’t mind her doing it?” Ian asked carefully and Mickey slid his leg forward, bumping it into Ian’s under the table. They might not be able to really touch in this place without getting their asses kicked, but no one would see them flirt beneath the table.

“Nah. I wanted to.”

Ian’s smile turned soft. “I wanted to as well.”

“So how do I match up with my pictures?” Mickey asked, trailing a hand down his side with a teasing grin.

“Pretty well,” Ian said with a wink, sliding his knee between Mickey’s, catching up on what he was doing. “I already felt pretty certain I wasn’t being catfished, but it’s nice to have it confirmed.”

Mickey emptied his beer. This was so fucking surreal. Here he was, on a date with some guy he was actually really fucking attracted to. He had been slightly worried his attraction would disappear once they met, had been even _more_ worried that _Ian’s_ attraction would disappear, but he wasn’t worried about either anymore.  

“Can I confess something else?” he asked and Ian leaned forwards on the table. Mickey mirrored him and now they were merely a breath apart.

“Go ahead.”

This guy was fucking Adonis, it was insane.

Mickey cleared his throat in an attempt to also clear the lust fogging his brain. “Me matching you was completely accidental. I wasn’t planning on matching anyone, it just happened.”

Ian stared at him for a moment until he started laughing. “Really? Well fuck me.”

Gladly.

“Mhm.” Mickey trailed his fingertips over the rim of his glass, eyes still trained firmly on Ian. “Lucky me.”

Ian glanced around. They were pretty much alone in this half of the bar. When he looked back at Mickey there was a question in his eyes, and Mickey knew what it was.

“Okay,” he said, trying to force himself to stay calm and collected and not act like the fucking excited mess he actually was.

Ian’s face lit up before he closed the distance between them, closing his lips around Mickey’s in a gentle, but at the same time persistent, kiss. Mickey’s hand automatically came up to cup Ian’s neck.

It was over way too quickly for Mickey’s tastes, but he knew it wasn’t safe for them to do this here. “I don’t live far,” he said, and that was all that was necessary to say to make Ian jump out of his seat and gather up his jacket.

“Lead the way.”

Their shoulders kept bumping on the way home to Mickey’s apartment, and sometimes their hands would brush and Mickey’s entire arm would buzz with electricity.

Mickey glanced at Ian from the corner of his eye and both men laughed when their eyes met. Ian playfully knocked his shoulder into his and Mickey had to bite down hard on his bottom lip to keep himself from smiling too widely. He had never thought he would pluck up the courage to go this far out of his comfort zone with a guy, but it was happening, and it felt like the start of something.

Man, was he glad he’d accidentally swiped right.


End file.
